Szarfarc S C, de Souza S B
Departamento de Nutrição, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.
Arch Latinoam Nutr. 1997 Jun;47(2 Suppl 1):35-8.
Iron deficiency anemia is nowadays the world most prevalent nutritional problem. Several studies concerning anemia prevalence were carried out in Brazil with pregnant women and children aged less than 5 years, restricted mainly to northeast and southeast regions of the country. More recently, groups other than those of pregnant women and children aged less than 5 years, such as school children and adolescents, have become the target of those concerned with the issue. The differences found out among the groups and the diversity of methodologies employed, prevent us from reaching an evolutionary profile concerning nutritional anemia in Brazil. However, the high rates of prevalence verified by the various studies carried out are enough for justifying the general interest in controlling and/or eradicating the disease. This paper presents a model of causal determination of anemia, that points out the diet as the principal immediate factor. The typical Brazilian diet is poor in bioavailable iron. The two foods--meat and beans--responsible for the totality of this mineral in the habitual Brazilian diet have been registering a decreasing intake in the last decades. Iron deficiency is also observed in the food practice of infants and children aged less than 5 years. This situation justifying the urgency in finding an effective intervention to control this relevant nutritional problem.
缺铁性贫血是当今世界上最普遍的营养问题。巴西针对孕妇和5岁以下儿童的贫血患病率开展了多项研究，主要集中在该国的东北部和东南部地区。最近，除孕妇和5岁以下儿童之外的群体，如学童和青少年，也成为了关注这一问题的人们的研究对象。各群体之间发现的差异以及所采用方法的多样性，使我们无法得出巴西营养性贫血的演变情况。然而，各项研究证实的高患病率足以说明人们对控制和/或根除该疾病普遍感兴趣的原因。本文提出了一个贫血病因判定模型，指出饮食是主要的直接因素。典型的巴西饮食中生物可利用铁含量较低。在巴西日常饮食中，提供全部此类矿物质的两种食物——肉类和豆类——在过去几十年中的摄入量一直在下降。在婴儿和5岁以下儿童的饮食习惯中也观察到了缺铁现象。这种情况表明迫切需要找到有效的干预措施来控制这一相关的营养问题。
